Sony to Shut Down PS3 and Vita Digital Stores by 2027
Sony announced that the PlayStation Store for PS3 and Vita will be closed globally by July 2027, with earlier shutdowns in select Latin American and Middle Eastern markets.
Sony said it will discontinue the PlayStation Store for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita consoles, ending digital purchases on the two platforms worldwide by July 2027. The company indicated that the stores in Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua will be disabled in August, with the rest of Latin America and the Middle East slated for closure in late 2026.
In a blog post on the official PlayStation website, Sony explained that the older hardware cannot support updated payment processing standards required for modern commerce systems, prompting the shutdown. It added that the decision allows the company to allocate resources toward newer devices that most users are currently using.
"As the PlayStation Store continues to evolve to support modern commerce systems, including updated payment processing standards, PS3 and PS Vita are no longer able to support these updates at the level required. As a result, we will need to close the PlayStation Store on these devices," the post read.
Games already purchased will remain downloadable for the foreseeable future. The move follows a 2021 reversal of a similar plan after fan backlash, during which then-PlayStation chief Jim Ryan acknowledged that the earlier decision had been mistaken.
